The United States is not going to totally pull back its soldiers from Afghanistan, says Karim Khorram, a former government official.

Khorram said on Monday that if the US wraps up military presence in the country, it would rely very much on the local militiamen.

He said that Washington had trained and armed militias in Afghanistan, but did not elaborate about them, and just said that “these militiamen are active under different titles and there are 12,000 of them in Khost province alone”.

Khorram who has served as former president Hamid Karzai’s chief of staff and culture minister in Karzai’s administration, accused “a number of countries” of still having hands in the Afghanistan peace affairs. Khorram warned of a “bad situation” if the peace negotiations are not held soon.

He downplayed Taliban’s insistence on the release of all their prisoners from government custody as an old matter, adding that the United States had assured the insurgent group about the release of their prisoners in the peace deal they signed in February.

The Taliban said lately they would hold talks with Ghani administration if all their 5,000 prisoners are released.

Khorram called on the government to release all Taliban prisoners.

http://www.afghanistantimes.af/us-not-withdraw-fully-from-afghanistan/